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Thursday, January 22, 2015

Ram khichri is an easy to make, wholesome meal from Gujarat, made with rice and moong dhal . I have tried it with cornmeal, which doesn't need any side dish. However, it can be served with pickle, curd or any chutney.INGREDIENTS:

In a pan, heat a spoon of ghee and fry cashews until golden brown. Keep aside.

In the same pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, curry leaves, grated ginger, chopped green chillies and hing. Saute for 10 seconds and add the chopped vegetables, chopped tomato, little salt, turmeric powder and saute well till done. Add pepper-jeera powder and saute for one more minute. Add these over the cooked cornmeal. Add some more salt for cooked cornmeal and mix well. Add fried cashews and coriander leaves. Mix well. Top with melted ghee while serving. Serve hot with any chutney or sambhar of your choice or pickle or fresh curd.NOTE: As cornmeal is gluten free, eat while hot, else it will become dry.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

This is a tasty, simple and mild sweet with barnyard millet, slightly different from Akkaravadisal and Sakkarai pongal. I tried the same method askalkandu bhathand substituted panankalkandu instead of kalkandu. It was really good and a healthy recipe for sure.

Soak saffron in a tablespoon of hot milk. Fry cashews and kismis in a spoon of ghee. Keep aside.

Clean and wash the millets. Drain the water completely. Pressure cook barnyard millet in milk for 4 whistles. While hot, mash it well. Add panankalkandu and mix well on stove.Its not necessary to powder the panam kalkandu. It automatically dissolves in a few minutes on heat. While mixing the texture becomes watery, do not panic, it will thicken when warm.

Now add 1/2 of the ghee and stir for a while. Add powdered cardamom, saffron and pachaikarpooram. Add in the remaining ghee. Mix well. Garnish with ghee-fried cashews and kismis.

NOTE: The dish should be semi-solid and more milk can be added to get the desired consistency.

Soak rice, methi seeds, javvarisi and dhals in water for 3 hours. (If using poha, soak it separately for half an hour.) Grind it to a thick batter. Add salt. Allow it to ferment for 5-6 hours.

Fry some mor milagai in oil until dark brown, crush coarsely with your hands OR powder in a mixie and keep aside.

Just before making the morappams, add curd, mor milagai powder (if using) and mix well.

In a kadai, pour little oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, and when they turn golden brown, add curry leaves, green chillies and scraped coconut fry for a minute and add to the batter. Mix well.

Heat a paniyaram mould, drop in a spoon of oil and pour the batter in each dent, little more than 3/4th. Simmer the stove, cook covered for 2 minutes, turn to the other side and fry unitl golden brown. Cook until crispy. Take it out from the mould with the help of the stick. Serve hot with chutney, Dosa molagaa podi or anything of your choice.

Variations:

1. This can be done using the batter alone. (for small children)

2. This can be done using finely chopped onions, carrots, cabbage etc. After tempering, saute onions and finely chopped vegetables for two minutes and then follow the other steps.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

INGREDIENTS:Mixed millet flour OR any millet flour - 3/4 cupJaggery crushed - little less than 3/4 cupDry ginger powder (sukku podi) - 1/4 tsp.Curd - 1 tablespoon Cardamom powdered - 1/4 tsp.Chopped coconuts - 2 tsp.Ghee / Oil - for deep fryingMETHOD:Fry the coconut pieces in ghee. Mix all the ingredients well. Add water little by little and whisk well to form a batter. The batter consistency should be semi thick(not too thin or too thick). Keep aside for 2 to 3 hrs. Heat a paniyaram mould, drop in a spoon of ghee and pour the batter in each dent, little more than 3/4th. Simmer the stove, cook covred for 2 minutes, turn to the other side and fry unitl golden brown. TIPS: Adding curd gives the airy holes and soft appams. NOTE: Millets flour are available at stores. Alternatively you can mix 1/4 kg.each of any millets of your choice and grind to a flour in a flour mill.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

On thiruvadirai star of Margazhi month, Kali and ezhu kari kootu is made and offered to the Lord and consumed as prasadam. Ezhu kari kootu should have atleast 7 vegetables in it. Though it is named ezhu kari kootu, we end up with more than 7 vegetables. Vegetables like ash gourd, pumpkin, raw banana, colocasia, broad beans, fresh field beans(is a must), yam, cluster beans, sweet potato, snake gourd etc. are used. The seasonal vegetables during this time is kavathankizhangu ( I think it is pidi karunai in Tamil) and koorkankizhangu (chinese potato), which gives a great taste to this kootu. Usually odd number of vegetables like 7, 9, 11 etc. are used.

It is customary, vegetables like drumstick, ridge gourd, radish, capsicum and bottlegourd, needless to say onions and garlic are not used in this kootu while doing on festival days. Traditionally, beans, carrot and potatoes are also not used. However, you can use any vegetables while doing it on other days.

In a pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and add the items given in the list" To Powder" and fry until golden brown. When cool, add coconut and powder coarsely OR grind to a coarse paste, in a mixie. Keep aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining oil , add mustard seeds , slit green chillies and curry leaves. Then add all the vegetables, turmeric powder and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add required amount of salt, pour in 1/2 cup of water and cover it with a lid. When half done add the tamarind extract and let it boil until the raw smell of the tamarind goes. Now add the mashed dhal, mix well and allow it boil until cooked. Add the ground powder, mix well and bring it to a boil. Best with Thiruvadirai Kali.

Wash the rice, drain water completely, pat it dry with a clean towel.Heat a pan and dry roast rice until golden brown. Keep aside. In the same pan dry roast moong dhal until golden brown. When cool, pound rice and dhal in a mixie to rava consistency.

Crush jaggery. Heat a pan, add little water and add the jaggery. When it dissolves, strain and remove the impurities. Pour it in the same pan. When it boils add a teaspoon of ghee. Now add the rice, dhal mixture and stir well without any lumps. Add scraped coconut, cardamom powder and the remaining ghee. Mix well and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Alternatively, you can cook it covered in the pan itself, in low flame, stirring frequently. When done, add ghee fried cashews, mix well and offer it to the Lord alongwith Ezhu Kari Koottu (Thalagam).

Variations: Dhal can be cooked separately like sundal consistency (not mushy) and added.